Is My Cat Really Preganant?!? Help!?!

[Maryg21]

So I have a near 6 month gray and white cat named Tina, who was actually supposed to be spayed this week until I noticed some strange things about her. She was hanging on the window outside and I noticed how much her stomach was bulging out like I had never seen before. Investigated some more about pregnant cats, and she displayed other symptoms such as being very affectionate, nesting behavior, hissing at our other cat, and restlessness. However, I looked at her nipples and they aren’t pink and large! If anything they are small and pale, and her stomach fur isn’t thinning out. Also I don’t remember much signs of her being in heat, however we do live in the country and so get various stray unneutered cats every once and a while. Could she be pregnant?

 

[lutece]

It is theoretically possible that she is pregnant, especially since she is an unspayed female with access to the outside. However, usually you won't see small pale nipples on a pregnant cat that is far enough along to have an enlarged belly and exhibit nesting behavior. A change in behavior might instead indicate that she is feeling teenage hormones and coming into heat. She may have a big belly from other reasons such as parasites, or she may be eating more than usual in preparation for a growth spurt. It's hard to say for sure.

If she is already scheduled for a spay this week, the question is: if she is indeed carrying an early pregnancy, would you still want to spay her? Going through with a pregnancy is risky for a 6 month old cat, so even if she might be pregnant, if she were my cat I'd go ahead with the spay regardless.